Customer Reviews

Oregon's Greatest Natural Disasters

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Written by the author of Oregon's very best hiking guide book, Oregon's Natural Disasters is an appealing, well written, and very scary tale of the major tantrums that Mother Nature has had in Oregon.

The historical accounts of floods are gripping, the natural science that Sullivan includes in discussing natural disaster is compelling, and the magnitude and frequency of past Oregon events are deeply sobering.

Sullivan is an inveterate outdoorsman, and his love of nature pleasantly percolates through the well researched historical and scientific information that he presents to the reader. With an eye to detail, Sullivan never loses sight of the big picture: what mankind calls "natural disasters" are more accurately described as natural events that recur on a regular (though somewhat unpredictable) basis. Many "natural disasters" come from almost willful (are you San Franciscan's listening?) disregard for the cyclical nature of floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis, resulting in homes and businesses that spring up in river flood zones, on the slopes of volcano's, on beaches that have no escape route should the tsunami siren sound off.

The last part of the book is a fictional account of a tsunami hitting the Oregon coast line. I think my favorite part was a real estate salesman prowling amongst homeless post-tsunami victims on the beach, offering to buy the title to their properties at rapaciously low prices.

It's a good read! I guarantee you you'll never see those Tsunami Danger Zone signs on the Oregon coast in the same way again!

This book was so much fun. It was jam packed with Geology and information, but read like a novel. The author then goes on to tell you what could happen, how it will turn out, and where to make sure you are when it does. He explains a lot about the history of Oregon in the process. I met the author at the Oregon State Fair and he was just as great in person. I must say that I really beefed up my earthquake emergency kit after reading this book. It takes up half my closet. We have had full discussions on what to do with our entire family, and have a real emergency plan now.

My two favorite things about this book are that it kept me up until 2am because it was too good to put down, and it explained geology and waves and floods in ways I could understand, so I learned real science while being vastly entertained. I grew up in Oregon, and found the historic detail fascinating, and the tale of what would happen, rather, what will happen, when we get our next big earthquake/tsunami was sufficiently thought provoking that I now take tsunami escape route signs seriously.

I live in Pennsylvania, and bought this book on a whim during a recent visit to Oregon. I should say that I was born in Oregon in 1947, so I connected to a number of the books "disasters". I found it very well written, and would recommend it to anyone who wishes to better understand the cyclic processes that produce disasters. The Oregon examples just make it connect better to Oregonians. Even though I grew up in the state, I knew about 3% of the material that was presented. Subduction earthquakes of magnitude 9.0? Read on.